Eastern Athletes Face Final Opportunity to Reach Qualifying Marks

May 04, 2011

Eagles head to Seattle May 6-7 for final regular-season meet

In a final attempt to qualify for the Big Sky Conference Championships, a number of athletes from the Eastern Washington University track and field team will travel to the University of Washington Friday and Saturday (May 6-7) to compete in their last regular-season meet.

The Ken Shannon Invitational will take place at Husky Stadium in Seattle, Wash., with the hammer throw getting underway Friday night at 1 p.m. The remainder of the meet will resume Saturday at 9:30 a.m., with the women's long jump and javelin throw. Running events will start at 10 a.m., with the women 3,000-meter steeplechase.

A total of 49 BSC qualifying marks have been met by the Eagles thus far, 21 by the men and 28 by the women.

Senior Erica Chaney has now tallied three qualifying marks this outdoor season. The Spokane, Wash., native has met qualifying marks in the hammer throw (160-11), the shot put (50-7 1/4) and the discus throw (154-8 1/4). She leads the conference standings in the shot put and ranks second in the discus throw.

Junior Adam Stewart had a lifetime-best mark in the high jump at the Pelluer Invitational last Saturday (April 29) when he had a winning jump of 6-9 3/4 to place him 10th on EWU's all-time best list. He ranks second in the league standings.

Freshman Olivia Midles recorded a season best with a mark of 182-3 in the hammer to rank third all-time in school history. Her four-foot improvement from her previous high (178-0) helped her to a Pelluer victory by more than 15 feet. She is currently sitting second in the BSC.

One week of regular-season competition remains before the Eagles pack up and travel to Sacramento, Calif., for the 2011 Big Sky Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships on May 11-14.

Total Big Sky Championships Qualifying Marks Attained: 28 (New: Seven; Chaney in the hammer, Miller in the high jump, Taylor in the pole vault, Leavitt in the 200, Stabl in the 400 hurdles, Hall in the pole vault and Slaughter in the 5,000.)

Season Notes

Big Sky Conference Preseason Polls

Voting is calculated with each team receiving nine points for a first place vote, eight points for a second place vote, etc. Coaches are allowed to vote for their respective teams. Below are the final results with the number of first place votes in parenthesis.

Top Season Performances

Krystal Deyo Sr. (Castle Rock, Wash.)Competing in her ninth and final season at Roos Field (formerly Woodward Field), senior Krystal Deyo broke her own meet record in the women's 100 meters to highlight the Pelluer Invitational (4/29/11). She had a winning time of 11.97, breaking her previous record of 11.99 set in 2009. She has competed the past five seasons for Eastern, with a trio of All-Big Sky Conference accolades (top three finish at BSC Championships) and two school records on her resume. Deyo ranks fourth in school history in the 100 (11.90 in 2009) and owns the school record in the long jump (19-8 1/4 in 2009).

Stephanie Dye Jr. (Chatteroy, Wash.)Junior Stephanie Dye qualified for the Big Sky Conference Championships in the 3,000 steeplechase, running a time of 11:39.41 after altitude adjustments at the Al Manuel Invitational (4/2/11). The time was a personal record by 20 seconds for Dye. She is seventh on EWU's all-time best list. She qualified in the 3,000 meters, running a time of 11:37.84 at the Beach Invitational (4/16/11). At the Pelluer Invitational (3/29/11), Dye ran a conference-qualifying time of 17:55.00 in the 5,000 meters, moving her to eighth in the record books.

Olivia Midles Fr. (Olympia, Wash.)
Freshman Olivia Midles recorded a season best at the Pelluer Invitational (3/29/11) with a mark of 182-3 in the hammer to rank third all-time in school history. Her four-foot improvement from her previous high (178-0) helped her to a Pelluer victory by more than 15 feet. She first qualified for the Big Sky Conference Championships in the hammer throw in her first Eastern appearance at the Dusty Lane Open (3/19/11).

Erica Chaney Sr. (Spokane, Wash.)
Erica Chaney qualified in her third event at the Pelluer Invitational (3/29/11) when she had a mark of 160-11 in the hammer throw. Chaney won the elite section of the shot put with a mark of 48-2 1/2 at the Stanford Invitational (3/25/11) to qualify her for the conference championships. In the same competition, Chaney placed second in the discus throw with a mark of 154 feet, which ranks her second in the league and qualified her for the championships. Chaney has earned All-Big Sky accolades seven total times in her career, including one win during the indoor season in the weight throw. Chaney broke the school record in the women's shot put this indoor season. Her mark of 51-7 surpassed the 20-year-old record of 50-11, which was set by Nancy Kuiper in 1991. Chaney came within four inches of the outdoor school record in the shot put after her performance at the Mt. SAC Relays (4/15/11). Her throw of 50-7 1/4 inched her closer to Nancy Kuiper's record of 50-11, which was set in 1991. Chaney capped her weekend with a second 50-plus throw in the shot put at the Beach Invitational (4/16/11) when she had a mark of 50-3 3/4.

Brad Wall Sr. (Vancouver, Wash.)
Just a month after winning the Big Sky Conference indoor 400 with a new school-record time, Wall opened his outdoor season with a BSC qualifying time of 47.88 to win the event at the Stanford Invitational (3/25/11). The junior from Vancouver, Wash., is the school-record holder in the 400 meters with a time of 46.78, which he set last outdoor season when he won the event at the BSC Championships in Ogden, Utah. Wall won the 100-meter dash at the Al Manuel Invitational (4/2/11) with a time of 11.19 and anchored both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays to victories. He placed fourth in the Olympic development heat at the Mt. SAC Relays (4/16/11), running a season-best time of 47.58. He also ran a season best in the 200 meters, clocking a time of 22.09.

Aaron Mettler Sr. (Walla, Walla, Wash.)
Mettler was tabbed as the men's field Athlete of the Week for the week of April 26 by the Big Sky Conference office.The senior from Walla Walla, Wash., reached a lifetime-best mark of 225-3 in the javelin after he placed fourth in the elite section of the Oregon Relays on April 23. He bettered his previous mark by more than five feet and remains fourth on EWU's all-time best list. Mettler now leads the Big Sky Conference rankings and is 14th in the West Region. Mettler was the Big Sky Champion in the javelin in 2008 and went on to place 15th in the NCAA Division I West Region. He defended his title in 2009, later placing 11th in the West Region. Mettler was the runner-up last outdoor season and competed at the regional meet.

Kersee Lind Jr. (Hermiston, Ore.)
Junior Kersee Lind qualified for the conference championships in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.27 to place him second in the Dusty Lane Open (3/19/11). Lind holds the school record in the indoor heptathlon with 5,033 points and is second on the decathlon all-time best list with 6,611 points. At the Spokane Multi (4/13/11), Lind qualified in the decathlon, scoring 6,668 points in the two-day competition to rank second in school history and second in the league standings. He is now within just 300 points of the school record, which was set by Eric Boyd in 2000. Lind had personal records in the high jump (6-6) and the 110-meter hurdles (15.57), assisting him to a 57-point personal record, overall. Lind broke the school record in the indoor heptathlon in 2009 when he scored 5,033 points, surpassing Matt Ludwigson's record of 4,951, which was set in 2007.

Adam Stewart Sr. (Yakima, Wash.)
Senior Adam Stewart, the 2009 BSC indoor high jump champion, had a lifetime-best mark in the high jump at the Pelluer Invitational (4/29/11) when he had a winning jump of 6-9 3/4 to place him 10th on EWU's all-time best list. He has had four All-Big Sky performances in his career, including the 2009 title.

Jordan Arakawa Fr. (Olympia, Wash.)
Jordan Arakawa finished second in the hammer throw at the Pelluer Invitational (3/29/11) with a personal record of 196-3. His previous best was 191-7 3/4 as he moved up four places on EWU's all-time best list to fifth. At the Oregon Relays (4/23/11), Arakawa qualified in the discus throw with a mark of 155-5.

Jon Buchanan Fr. (Yakima, Wash.)
Freshman Jon Buchanan placed second in the shot put at the Dusty Lane Open (3/19/11) with a Big Sky qualifying mark of 52-8 3/4. He had a two-foot season personal record in the shot put at the Beach Invitational (4/16/11). Buchanan first qualified in the hammer throw at the Al Manuel Invitational (4/2/11) but bettered his mark at the Pelluer Invitational (3/29/11) when he had a throw of 177-5. Buchanan earned All-Big Sky accolades at the indoor championships when he placed third in the shot put with a mark of 52-6.

Kurt WilliamsSr. (Snohomish, Wash.)
Senior Kurt Williams had a season-best mark in the long jump, leaping 23-9 3/4 to place him sixth at the Beach Invitational (4/16/11). He also had a lifetime-best time in the 100 meters, running a time of 10.97. Williams qualified earlier in the season in the triple jump with a mark of 46 feet.

Morena Mannucci Fr. (Rome, Italy)
Freshman Morena Mannucci continues to climb EWU's all-time rankings and is also nearing a school record. The triple jumper from Rome, Italy, bounded to a second-place position on EWU's all-time best list when she had a mark of 38-10 1/4 at the Oregon Relays (4/23/11). She is now just under a foot from Teanna Meinhold's school-record mark of 39-7. Mannucci's best mark out of high school in the event is 40-9.